


The Real Beginning

by MusicalLuna



Category: Psych
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Developing Relationship, Divorce, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Late Night Conversations, Originally Posted on Psychfic, Phone Calls & Telephones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-07
Updated: 2008-08-07
Packaged: 2019-03-10 22:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13510953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: Juliet gets a late night phone call.





	The Real Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Just One More Look](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13510950) by [MusicalLuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna). 



> I wrote this last night because I was inspired by part of my own ficlet. -_- It's a companion piece to _Just One More Look_.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** No ownage here.

Juliet woke abruptly, grimacing muzzily at the dark ceiling overhead.

The phone was ringing.

Rolling onto her side with an unhappy groan she squinted at the hazy green numbers on her alarm, her eyes pinching shut in aggravation when she read _2:23_. She'd only been in bed for an hour and a half, but she'd been _out_. Please let it not be work. Please.

“Hello?” she mumbled.

“Hey, Jules.”

She frowned, rubbing at her eyes as she rolled onto her back again. “Shawn?” He didn't immediately answer so she continued, “Is everything okay?”

“I can't sleep,” he said.

“Oh,” she said in return. She wasn't sure what to say in response to that.

“You were sleeping weren't you?” he said and she glanced at the clock again, suppressing a sigh.

“It's two in the morning, Shawn,” she replied, wrapping an arm around her pillow and stuffing the free side of her face into it. She was so tired. Was it so much to ask for a good night's sleep?

“Well, yeah.” She waited, expecting something more, some kind of wise-crack or strange invitation to go for a drive or something, but nothing came. After a long stretch of silence she said, “Are you sure nothing's—” And then, suddenly, he was talking.

“Usually I call Gus but since you and I are, you know—I thought maybe I should call you instead. I mean, I wouldn't want you getting jealous because I share more with Gus or something and Gus is kind of annoyed about the mini-putting green I had installed in the office so he probably wouldn't answer his phone even if I did call. It took me an hour to dial your number. This is really weird. Gus always knows why I'm calling, like, a minute in. I guess I sound different when I'm calling him at two AM to try and get him to drive to L.A. with me and when I'm calling because—”

“Shawn, shut up.” It had taken half the rambling spiel to comprehend what he was trying to say, but the second it had, Juliet sat up in bed, recognizing what a huge step in their slowly developing relationship this was.

He chuckled quietly in response to her command and said, “Now that sounds like Gus.”

Sitting back against the headboard, Juliet was struck by how she was suddenly wide-awake. She'd been waiting—hoping—for something like this to happen for weeks now. Dating Shawn was fun, but she wanted more than just a few entertaining dates. She wanted to get to know him. _Really_ know him. Not wanting to scare him off she said, “You call Gus at two in the morning a lot?”

“Two, three, four, five...it's all fair game with Gus.” He was smiling, just slightly, and she wondered if he could tell that she had finally figured out what was going on. Probably, knowing the psychic.

When he didn't seem like he was going to offer up his reason for calling any time soon she queried gently, “You can't sleep?”

He cleared his throat and muttered, “Right. Down to business.” He paused again, just the barest of hesitations and then: “My, ah, my mom called today.”

Juliet said nothing, not sure just yet whether or not this was a bad thing.

“She's dating this guy and she called because she wanted me to know that she thinks it's serious. That he's probably thinking about—proposing.” The conflict was evident in Shawn's voice.

“Is that a bad thing?” Juliet asked, attempting to sound merely curious.

She could almost see Shawn plowing his hands through his hair, his frustration was so palpable. “I don't know. I mean—I want her to be happy, but—” A strangled sound slipped from his mouth. “She's my _mom._ If she gets married then I'm going to have a stepdad. That's just _weird_. And when my dad finds out...” He laughed derisively and Juliet's hand tightened around a handful of her comforter, aching to take hold of his. “He's going to fall apart.”

“But your parents have been divorced for awhile, haven't they?” she asked.

“Eighteen years,” he said promptly. “But Dad...” Shawn breathed a heavy sigh. “He...he never lost hope. I swear, he still honestly thinks there's a chance. And if Mom gets married...”

“Yeah,” Juliet said softly. “I can see why this is keeping you up.”

Shawn laughed but the sound was far different than what she was used to hearing. It was bleak and miserable. “I wish...I wish they hadn't... Things would be so much simpler if they were still—” He sighed again and she heard the sound of rustling fabric, presumably as he shifted in bed. “It sucks.”

“It does,” she agreed. “Your dad is a tough guy though, Shawn. I mean, he survived the divorce, didn't he?”

“He deserves more than just survival, Jules,” Shawn said, resigned.

“Of course he does. And maybe your mom getting married will give him a chance to do that. The past won't be holding him back anymore,” she said, brushing a hand over her comforter. “It'll hurt for awhile, but maybe once that door is firmly shut, he'll give himself a chance at a new life.”

“A different moment,” Shawn murmured and her brow creased in confusion.

“What?”

“He needs closure,” Shawn said and Juliet still wasn't sure what he was talking about, but he was smiling again, and that was really what mattered, wasn't it? He yawned hugely in her ear and she laughed.

“Sounds like you're not going to have anymore trouble sleeping.”

Smirking and still half-yawning he agreed, “At least not tonight.”

“I'm glad you called, Shawn,” she told him, serious again for just a moment.

“Me too, Jules,” he said and it flooded her with a warm, expansive sense of pleasure to hear him say that. “It was weird. But in a good way.”

She snorted out a laugh. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

“As early as humanly possible. Eleven at the latest.”

Laughing, she retorted, “Well then I look forward to seeing you bright and early. Sleep well.”

“You too, Jules,” he said, voice warm with a smile.

And as she lay back in bed, smiling at the darkened ceiling, Juliet hugged her pillow to her chest and knew she had made the right choice.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure where their conversation came from, but it seemed perfect for the situation and for the timing of it. Hope you thought so. :D


End file.
